Sexual harassment (SH) has been identified as one of the most damaging and ubiquitous barriers to career success and satisfaction for women. This study meta-analyzed data from 41 studies, with a total sample size of nearly 70,000 respondents, to examine several negative consequences of workplace SH as well as how situational factors may play a role in facilitating these occurrences. SH experiences are associated with negative outcomes such as decreased job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, withdrawing from work, ill physical and mental health, and even symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, organizational climate for SH figured prominently in facilitating these occurrences.

A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of workplace sexual harassment

This study used path analysis to test a model that posits that relevant personality traits will have both direct relationships with counterproductive work behaviors (CPBs) and indirect relationships to CPBs through the mediating effects of job satisfaction. Based on a sample (n = 141) of customer service employees, results generally supported the hypothesized model for both boss- and self-rated CPBs. Agreeableness had a direct relationship with interpersonal counterproductive work behaviors (CPB-I); Conscientiousness had a direct relationship with organizational counterproductive work behaviors (CPB-O); and, job satisfaction had a direct relationship to both CPB-I and CPB-O. In addition, job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between Agreeableness and both CPB-O and CPB-I. Overall, results show that personality traits differentially predict CPBs and that employees’ attitudes about their jobs explain, in part, these personality‐behavior associations.

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Relationship of personality traits and counterproductive work behaviors: the mediating effects of job satisfaction

This paper reports results from two meta-analyses of the potential individual-level outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying. After introducing a theoretical framework for the possible relationships between bullying and outcomes, Study 1 summarizes 137 cross-sectional effect sizes from 66 independent samples (N=77,721). The findings show that exposure to bullying is associated with both job-related and health- and well-being-related outcomes, such as mental and physical health problems, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, burnout, increased intentions to leave, and reduced job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Non-significant or weak associations were established for absenteeism, performance, self-perceptions, and sleep. Study 2 examines longitudinal relationships between bullying and mental health and absenteeism, respectively. Based on prospective associations from 13 samples (N=62,916), workplace bullying influenced mental health problems over time, while baseline mental health prob...

Outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying: A meta-analytic review

The aim of this study was to investigate how different measurement methods and sampling techniques contribute to the observed variation in prevalence rates of workplace bullying. A total of 102 prevalence estimates of bullying from 86 independent samples (N=130,973) were accumulated and compared by means of meta-analysis. At an average, the statistically independents samples provided an estimate of 14.6%. Yet, the findings show that methodological moderators influence the estimated rates. As for measurement method, a rate of 11.3% was found for studies investigating self-labelled victimization from bullying based on a given definition of the concept, whereas a rate of 14.8% was found for behavioural measure studies, and 18.1% for self-labelling studies without a given definition. A difference of 8.7% points was found between randomly sampled and non-randomly sampled studies. When controlling for geographical differences, the findings show that geographical factors also influence findings on bullying. Hence, findings from different studies on workplace bullying cannot be compared without taking moderator variables into account.

The impact of methodological moderators on prevalence rates of workplace bullying. A meta‐analysis

A new generation of women veterans: Stressors faced by women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan

This study presents a meta-analytic review of the incidence of sexual harassment in the U.S. The impact of 3 main moderator variables (type of survey used, sampling technique, and the type of work environment in which the study was conducted) on the reported incidence rate was estimated by cumulating incidence rates reported in the literature. Results show that directly querying the respondents about whether or not they experienced sexual harassment (vs. using questionnaires that listed behaviors believed to constitute sexual harassment), and employing probability-sampling techniques (vs. convenience sampling), led to substantially lower estimates of sexual harassment incidence. In addition, the results suggest that sexual harassment is more prevalent in organizations characterized by relatively large power differentials between organizational levels. Based on more than 86,000 respondents from 55 probability samples, on average, 58% of women report having experienced potentially harassing behaviors and 24% report having experienced sexual harassment at work.

Reported incidence rates of work‐related sexual harassment in the united states: using meta‐analysis to explain reported rate disparities

Nature's place in legal and ethical reasoning: an interactive commentary on william frederick's values, nature and culture in the american corporation

This study presents a meta-analytic review of the incidence of sexual harassment in the U.S. The impact of 3 main moderator variables (type of survey used, sampling technique, and the type of work environment in which the study was conducted) on the reported incidence rate was estimated by cumulating incidence rates reported in the literature. Results show that directly querying the respondents about whether or not they experienced sexual harassment (vs. using questionnaires that listed behaviors believed to constitute sexual harassment), and employing probability-sampling techniques (vs. convenience sampling), led to substantially lower estimates of sexual harassment incidence. In addition, the results suggest that sexual harassment is more prevalent in organizations characterized by relatively large power differentials between organizational levels. Based on more than 86,000 respondents from 55 probability samples, on average, 58% of women report having experienced potentially harassing behaviors and 24% report having experienced sexual harassment at work. During the past 2 decades, sexual harassment has emerged as an important social issue with critical implications for the society at large and for organizations in particular. Consequently, scientific research has increasingly focused on the study of the sexual harassment phenomenon, We thank Tim Judge, Huy Le, Sara Rynes, and Frank Schmidt for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper

Reported incidence rates of work-related using meta-analysis to explain reported rate sexual harassment in the united states: disparities

This article links two important topics: sexual harassment and the power of the media as a cultural influence. It considers how the media contributes both to the condemnation and prevention of sexual harassment and to its persistence. It is an attempt to further our understanding of the underlying problem of sexual harassment, the cultural descriptions and manifestations of sexual harassment and the particular design of evolving solutions. The project evolved from the May 13, 1996 cover story of Business Week. That periodical ran a story about Astra USA (a subsidiary of the Swedish pharmaceutical, Astra AB) which alleged widespread sexual harassment. My research is based on a comparison of certain U.S. and Swedish print media coverage of a sexual harassment case. The study relies primarily on The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dagens Nyheter, Dagens Industri, and The Financial Times. In addition, I spent part of the fall 1997 semester in Stockholm meeting with dozens of people from the academic, government and business sectors talking about sexual harassment generally and my research project specifically. In this project, I have been most interested in how the media talk about the cases, i.e., how do they tell the story or report the case. Within this framework, I consider a number of issues including the presentation of the case as an individual or a workplace problem, the various privacy concerns which are evidenced, and the degree to which economic issues are prioritized. Together with the text of the articles, these queries provide keys to the ways the press in different countries and their readers think about sexual harassment. To a large extent the press coverage reflects the different cultural values of the United States and Sweden, including "...the contrary value choices about confrontation, power, the merits of informal or extralegal dispute resolution, and the roles of men and women." (Bernstein, Anita, "Law, Culture, and Harassment," University of Pennsylvania Law Review, April 1994, pp. 1227-1311.) This analysis sheds light on when gender becomes news and, in that context, what we can and cannot talk about. Analysis of the coverage suggests a disparity in the approach which the two countries have taken (and continue to take) towards the stated goal of gender equality. Recognizing and articulating such differences allows us to more fully consider the effects of such processes.

Comparing Conversations about Sexual Harassment in the United States and Sweden: Print Media Coverage of the Case against Astra USA

Although maintaining that Frederick’s book Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation(1995) provides a new way to think about what often appear to be competing values of business and society generally, this article raises several questions about Frederick’s theory. In particular, the author challenges Frederick’s failure to develop a clear priority system between the value clusters he defines and the utilitarian approach he uses to balance interests. The article is critical of his apparent disagreement with a concept of universal values as well as his related support of cultural relativism.

Nancy Hauserman

Papers

Reported incidence rates of work‐related sexual harassment in the united states: using meta‐analysis to explain reported rate disparities

Nature's place in legal and ethical reasoning: an interactive commentary on william frederick's values, nature and culture in the american corporation

Reported incidence rates of work-related using meta-analysis to explain reported rate sexual harassment in the united states: disparities

Comparing Conversations about Sexual Harassment in the United States and Sweden: Print Media Coverage of the Case against Astra USA

New Values, New Conflicts: A Response to William Frederick’s Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation